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GREATER SERBIA
from Ideology to Aggression
Vaso Cubrilovic
Expulsion of the Albanians (1937)
A memorandum presented to the Royal Yugoslav government
which outlines methods for removing Albanians from southern Serbia - a blueprint for
ethnic cleansing
Vaso Cubrilovic (b.1897) was a historian, teacher and politician. As a youth he was in the
Young Bosnia political movement and was involved in the assassination of Archduke Franz
Ferdinand in Sarajevo. After the war he was a high school teacher and professor in
Belgrade. He was also a political adviser for the royalist government of Yugoslavia. After
World War II, he became a member of the Communist Party and as such held various posts in
the Federal Yugoslav government. He was also a member of the Serbian Academy of Arts and
Sciences.
Cubrilovic presented the following memorandum to the Stojadinovic government in 1937.
While it deals with a specific topic, the expulsion of Albanians from southern Serbia, it
also expresses Serbian paranoia at losing land or their perceived dominance in the
Balkans. It shows the Machiavellian lengths some Greater Serbian ideologists will condone
and employ to reach their goals, all of which is apparent in the present conflict.
It is also interesting to note that many of the measures Cubrilovic suggests were and
still are being used by the present Serbian regime in Kosovo.
* * *
The problem of the Albanians in our national and state life did not arise yesterday. It
played a major role in our life in the Middle Ages, but its importance became decisive by
the end of the 17th century, at the time when the masses of the Serbian people were
displaced northwards from their former ancestral territories of Raska and were supplanted
by the Albanian highlanders. Gradually the latter came down from their mountains to the
fertile plains of Metohija and Kosovo. Penetrating to the north, they spread in the
direction of Southern and Western Morava and, crossing the Sar Mountain descended toward
Polog and thence, in the direction of the Vardar. In this way, by the 19th century, the
Albanian triangle was formed, a wedge which based on its Debar-Rogozna axis in its ethnic
hinterland, penetrated as far into our territories as Nis and separated our ancient
territories of Raska from Macedonia and the Vardar Valley.
This Albanian wedge inhabited by the anarchist Albanian element hampered any strong
cultural, educational and economic connection between our northern and southern
territories in the 19th century. This was the main reason why Serbia was unstable, until
1873, when it managed to establish and maintain continuous links with
Macedonia, through Vranje and the Black Mountain of Skopje, to exercise the cultural and
political influence on the Vardar Valley that was anticipated because of the favorable
geographical and transportation links and the historical traditions in those regions.
Although the Bulgarians began their state life later than the Serbs, at first they had
greater success. This explains why there are permanent settlements of southern Slavs from
Vidin in the north to Ohrid in the south. Serbia began to cut pieces off this Albanian
wedge as early as the first uprising, by expelling the northernmost Albanian inhabitants
from Jagodina.
From 1918 onwards it was the task of our present state to destroy the remainder of the
Albanian triangle. It did not do this. There are several reasons for this, but we shall
mention only the most important.
The fundamental mistake of the authorities in charge at that time is that, forgetting
where they were, they wanted to solve all the major ethnic problems of the troubled and
bleeding Balkans by Western methods. Turkey brought to the Balkans the customs of the
Sheriat, according to which victory in war and the occupation of a country confers the
right to the lives and property of the subject inhabitants. Even the Balkan Christians
learned from the Turks that not only state power and domination, but also home and
property are won and lost by the sword. The concept of the relations of private ownership
of land in the Balkans was to be softened to some extent through laws, ordinances and
other international agreements issued under pressure from Europe, but this concept has
been to some degree the main lever of the Turkish state and the Balkan states to this day.
We do not need to refer to the distant past. We shall mention only a few cases of recent
times. The removal of Greeks from Asia Minor to Greece and of Turks form Greece to Asia
Minor, the recent removal of Turks from Bulgaria and Romania to Turkey. While all the
Balkan states, since 1912, have solved or are on the way to solving the problems of
national minorities through mass removals, we have stuck to slow and sluggish methods of
gradual colonization. The results of this have been negative. That this is so is best
shown by the statistics from the 18 districts which comprise the Albanian triangle. From
these figures it emerges that the population is greater than the total increase in our
population from natural growth plus new settlers (from 1921 to 1931 the Albanian
population increased by 68,060 while the Serbs show an increase of 58,745-a difference of
9,315 in favor of the Albanians). Taking into account the intractable character of the
Albanians, the pronounced increase in their numbers and the ever increasing difficulties
of colonization by the old methods, with the passage of time this disproportion will
become even greater and eventually put in question even those few successes we have
achieved in our colonization from 1918 onwards.
Without a doubt, the main cause for the lack of success of our colonization in those
regions was that the best land remained in the hands of the Albanians. The only possible
way for our mass colonization of those regions was to take the land from the Albanians.
After the war, at the time of the rebellion and actions of the insurgents, this could have
been achieved easily by expelling part of the Albanian population to Albania, by not
legalizing their usurpations and by buying their pastures. Here we must return again to
the gross error of our post-war concept about the right to possession of the land, instead
of taking advantage of the concept of the Albanians themselves about their ownership of
the land they had usurped-scarcely any of them had title-deeds issued by the Turks, and
those only for land purchased, to the detriment of our nation and state, we not only
legalized all of these usurpations, but worse still, accustomed the Albanians to Western
European ideas of private property.
Prior to that, they could never have had these ideas. In this way, we ourselves handed
them a weapon to defend themselves, to keep the best land for themselves and make the
nationalization of one of the regions most important to us impossible.
This concentration of Albanians around the Sar Mountain has great national, state and
strategic importance for our state. We have already mentioned the way it came into
existence and the importance of this region for linking the regions around the Vardar
Valley firmly with our ancient territories. The greatest force of the Serbian expansion
ever since the beginnings of the first Serb state in the 9th century has always been based
on the continuity of this expansion, as well as on the expansion of the ancient
territories of Raska in all directions, hence including its expansion towards the south.
This continuity has been interrupted by the Albanians and, until the ancient uninterrupted
connection of Serbia and Montenegro with Macedonia along the whole of its extent from the
Drin River to Southern Morava is re- established, we will not be secure in our possession
of this territory. From the ethnic standpoint the Macedonians will fully unite with us
only when they enjoy true ethnic support from the Serbian motherland, which they have
lacked to this day. This they will achieve only through the destruction of the Albanian
block.
From the military-strategic standpoint, the Albanian block occupies one of the most
important positions in our country-the starting point from which the Balkan rivers flow to
the Adriatic, the Black Sea and the Aegean Sea. The holding of this strategic
position to a large degree determines the fate of the Central Balkans, especially the fate
of the main Balkan communication line from Morava to Vardar. It is no accident that many
battles of decisive importance for the destiny of the Balkans have been fought here
(Nemanja against the Greeks, the Serbs against the Ottomans in 1389, Hunyadi against the
Ottomans in 1446). In the 20th century, only that country which is inhabited by its own
people can be sure of its security; therefore it is an imperative duty for all of us that
we should not allow these positions of such strategic importance to be in the hands of a
hostile alien element. The more so since this element has the support of a national state
of the same race. Today this state is powerless but even in this condition, it has become
a base of Italian imperialism, which aims to use it to
penetrate into the heart of our state. Our element, which will be willing and able to
defend its own land and its state, is the most reliable means against this penetration.
Besides this block of 18 districts, the Albanians and other national minorities in the
other parts of the southern regions are dispersed and therefore, not so dangerous to our
national and state life. To nationalize the regions around the Sar Mountain means to bury
any irredentism forever, to ensure our power in these territories forever.
The Albanians cannot be repulsed by means of gradual colonization alone: they are the only
people who, during the last millennium, managed not only to resist the nucleus of our
state, Raska and Zeta, but also to harm us, by pushing our borders northwards and
eastwards. Whereas in the last millennium our ethnic borders were shifted to Subotica in
the north and Kupa in the north-west, the Albanians drove us from the Skadar and its
region, the former capital city of Bodin, from Metohija and Kosovo. The only way and the
only means to cope with them is the brute force of an organized state, in which we have
always been superior to them. If since 1912 we have had no success in the struggle against
them, we are to blame for this, as we have not used this power as we should have done. It
is not possible to speak of any national assimilation of the Albanians in our favor. On
the contrary, because they base themselves on Albania, their national awareness is
awakened and if we do not settle accounts with them at the proper time, within 20-30 years
we shall have to cope with a terrible irredentism, the signs of which are already apparent
and which will inevitably put all of our southern territories in jeopardy.
As we have already stressed, the mass removal of the Albanians from their triangle is the
only effective coursefor us. To bring about the relocation of a whole population, then the
first prerequisite is the creation of a suitable psychosis. It can be created in many
ways.
As is known, the Muslim masses, in general, are very readily influenced, especially by
religion and are superstitious and fanatical. Therefore, first of all we must win over
their clergy and men of influence, through money or threats, to support the relocation of
the Albanians. Agitators to advocate this removal must be found, as quickly as possible,
especially from Turkey, if it will provide them for us.
Another means would be coercion by the state apparatus. The law must be enforced to the
letter so as to make staying intolerable for the Albanians: fines and imprisonments, the
ruthless application of all police dispositions, such as the prohibition of smuggling,
cutting forests, damaging agriculture, leaving dogs unchained, compulsory labor and any
other measure that an experienced police force can contrive. From the economic aspect: the
refusal to recognize the old land deeds, the work with the land register should
immediately include the ruthless collection of taxes and the payment of all private and
public debts, the requisitioning of all state and communal pastures, the cancellation of
concessions, the withdrawal of permits to exercise a profession, dismissal from the state,
private, and communal offices etc., will hasten the process of their removal. Health
measures: the brutal application of all the dispositions even in homes, pulling down
encircling walls and high hedges around
houses, rigorous application of veterinary measures which would result in impeding the
sale of livestock on the market, etc. can also be applied in an effective and practical
way. When it comes to religion the Albanians are very touchy, and thus they must be
harassed on this score, too. This can be achieved through illtreatment of their
clergy, the destruction of their cemeteries, the prohibition of polygamy, and especially
the inflexible application of the law compelling girls to attend elementary schools,
wherever they are.
Private initiative, too, can assist greatly in this direction. We should distribute
weapons to our colonists as need be. The old forms of cetnik action should be organized
and secretly assisted. In particular, a tide of Montenegrins should be launched from the
mountain pastures, in order to create a large-scale conflict with the
Albanians in Metohija. This conflict should be prepared by means of our trusted people. It
should be encouraged and this can be done easily once the Albanians revolt; the whole
affair should be presented as a conflict between clans and, if need be, ascribed to
economic reasons. Finally, local riots can be incited. These will be bloodily suppressed
with the most effective means, but by the colonists from Montenegrin clans and the
cetniks, rather than by means of the army. There remains one more means, which Serbia
employed with great practical effect after 1878, that is, by secretly burning down
Albanian villages and city quarters.
The method of the colonization of Toplica and Kosanica after 1878, when the Albanians were
expelled from these regions, is full of lessons. The method for the colonization of these
regions was laid down in the law of January 3, 1880. On February 3 of the same year, the
People's Council approved the law on the amendment of agrarian relations according to the
principle of the land to the peasants. Without hesitation, Serbia sought its first foreign
loan in order to pay Turkey for the lands taken. It did not set up any ministry of
agrarian reform or costly apparatus for the problem of colonization, but everything was
done in a simple and practical manner. The police organs distributed the land to all those
who wanted to till it. People came from Montenegro, Sjenica, Vranje, Kosovo, Pec, etc. and
thirty years later Toplica and Kosanica, once Albanian regions of ill-repute, gave Serbia
the finest regiment in the wars of 1912-18, the Iron Second Regiment. In those wars,
Toplica and Kosanica paid and repaid, with the blood of their sons, those tens of millions
of dinars which Serbia had spent for their resettlement.
Hence, if we want the colonists to remain where they are, they must be assured of
acquiring all the means of livelihood within a few years. We must ruthlessly prohibit any
speculation with the houses and properties of displaced Albanians. The state must reserve
for itself the unlimited right to dispose of the fixed and movable assets of the people
transferred and must settle its own colonists there immediately after the departure of the
Albanians. This must be done because it will rarely happen that a whole village departs at
once. The first to be settled in these villages should be the Montenegrins, as arrogant,
irascible and merciless people, who will drive the remaining Albanians away with their
behavior, and then the colonists from other regions can be brought in.
Whenever our colonization policy has been criticized for its lack of success, its
defenders have always excused themselves with the inadequate financial means the state has
allocated for this work. We do not deny that it is so up to a point, although it must be
admitted that more has been spent in our country on the maintenance of this apparatus and
its irrational work than on the colonization itself. Nevertheless, if the state has not
provided as much as it should, it must be understood that every state to ensure the
holding of the insecure national regions, by colonizing these regions with its own
national element, must be included among the primary interests. All other commitments rank
inferior to this task and this commitment. For these problems, the money can and must be
found. We have already mentioned the instance of Serbia during the colonization of Toplica
and Kosanica and the benefits it had from this. When the small Serbian principality did
not hesitate, as a free and independent kingdom, to seek its first loan for the
colonization, can it be said that our present-day
Yugoslavia is unable to do such a thing? It can and must do it, and it is not true that it
lacks the means to do it.
For such an important national, military, strategic and economic task, it is the duty of
the state to sacrifice a few hundred million dinars. At a time when it can spend one
billion dinars for the construction of the international highway from Subotica to
Caribrod, any possible benefit from which we will enjoy only in the distant future, it can
and must find a few hundred million dinars, which will put us back in possession in the
cradle of our state.
In view of all that has been said above, it is no accident that our examination of the
question of colonization in the south, we proceed from the view that the only effective
method for solving this problem is the mass resettlement of the Albanians. Just as in
other countries, gradual colonization has had no success in our country. When the state
wants to intervene in favor of its own element, in a struggle for land, it can only be
successful if it acts brutally. Otherwise, the native, with his roots in his birthplace
and acclimatized there, is always stronger than the colonist. In our case, this must be
kept especially well in mind, because we have to deal with a rugged, resistant and
prolific race, which the late Cvijic describes as the most expansive in the Balkans.
All Europe is in a state of turmoil. We do not know what each day and night may bring.
Albanian nationalism is mounting in our territories too. To leave the situation as it is
would mean, in case of any world conflict or social revolution, both of which are possible
in the near future, to jeopardize all of our territories in the south. The purpose of this
paper is to avert such a thing.
Contents:
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